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Landon Donovan is going to get his swan song with the United States national team after all.

USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced on Tuesday that he will call the US icon into the team’s international friendly against Ecuador in October, giving Donovan one last chance to don his country’s colors before he retires from the game at the end of the year.

“For 15 years, Landon has thrilled us with his amazing abilities on the field and impressed us with his gracious approach off the field,” said US Soccer president Sunil Gulati to USsoccer.com. “We are looking forward to celebrating his legacy during our next home National Team match and allowing fans the opportunity to thank him for all the memories he’s provided over the years.”

Donovan announced earlier this month that 2014 will be the last of his decorated 15-year career in soccer, but there were lingering questions about whether or not he would appear one last time for the US before his retirement.

That game will apparently come in the Americans’ final home game of 2014 on Oct. 10 in Hartford, Conn., and after an about-face from both Donovan and Klinsmann that seemed unlikely earlier this summer.

Donovan, 32, was famously left off the US roster for the World Cup this summer, and then spoke out candidly in the days and weeks following Klinsmann’s decision. Despite telling media that he would always accept a call for the US squad, Donovan said he was disappointed by the decision and insisted he was still capable of battling for a spot in the starting lineup for the team in Brazil.

Donovan was also vocal with his criticisms of the US team’s preparedness from his post as an analyst for ESPN during the tournament, and later said he didn’t think the team had been set up to succeed in Brazil.

Tempers appear to have cooled since July, however, and Donovan even made light of his snub during commercial spots for the LA Galaxy’s club web site, EA Sports and Foot Locker.

And any previous issues between the two sides appear to be secondary to a proper sendoff for arguably the greatest player in US history. Donovan is the nation’s all-time leader in both goals (57) and assists (58), and his 156 career appearances are second all-time behind fellow LA Galaxy legend Cobi Jones (164).

"Playing for the US national team has been a huge part of my career and I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to play for my country one last time,” Donovan said in US soccer's release. “I'm so grateful to all the fans that have supported me and this game will give me the chance to say thank you to all of them. I look forward to a great evening and I'm thankful to US Soccer for making this happen."

After a slow start to the 2014 MLS season – which may have been what cost him a spot with the World Cup team – Donovan has come alive since May, tallying six goals and adding six assists in his last 14 games. LA have climbed the Western Conference ladder in the process, and are second on points per game behind the Seattle Sounders.

Though the Ecuador match doesn’t directly conflict with the Galaxy’s schedule, Donovan will have short rest for what’s likely to be a crucial clash with fellow strivers FC Dallas on October 12.

Donovan’s most recent appearance with the US came as a second-half substitute during a 2-2 draw against Mexico in April in Glendale, Ariz., and he also started and tallied an assist in the team’s 2-0 win over South Korea in January.

The US will play the Czech Republic in Prague on Sept. 3. Klinsmann is expected to release the roster for that match later this week.

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Jk said he will step right into the national team months back, he will probably be on the roster for the gold cup. I've only seen clips, looks great..he is playing in u-20 World Cup which starts in a couple of weeks, hopefully I can catch a game. Barring some type of injury he will be on the 2018 squad, who knows the impact he will have. He should play in the Olympics next year if we qualify.

In other news Altidore is out 5-6 weeks with a hammy , should be back right before Gold cup, but won't be match fit.

Second thought: this was a wide, wide open game - it looked nothing like what we'll see out of CONCACAF teams in the Gold Cup next month. But that's 100 percent okay. A great result is a great result, and Jurgen Klinsmann has proved quite adept at getting great results in Euro friendlies over his four years in charge. This one was way more fun than the 1-0 win in Italy, and more promising/revealing in some important ways.
And as pointed out on Twitter: We've crushed Klinsmann for his team's penchant for giving up stupid, soft late goals (not just in friendlies - this happened in the World Cup). They reversed that trend today, and hopefully that's a sign of things to come.
Here's a few things:
[HR][/HR][h=2]1. Dyson Sphere[/h]Here's the definition of a Dyson Sphere, taken from Wikipedia: A hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and hence captures most or all of its power output.
The USMNT's attack is a Dyson sphere, and Michael Bradley is the sun. Klinsmann has prodded and pulled his lineup apart, trying multiple formations, and all in the service of trying to maximize the potential offense generated by Bradley's ability to switch the field, play the final ball, or play the second-to-last ball. It's the best way to create attacking energy for a team that kind of lacks a pure, final third chance creator in the Landon Donovan or Tab Ramos mold.
You probably saw the two secondary assists Bradley picked up today. I don't have the stats for all-time USMNT secondary assists (I'm not even sure if it's something that's tracked), but I'd imagine he's right there with Donovan in the record books should it exist.
But there were other plays from Bradley that illustrate just how important he is, and just how good the US have become at harnessing all the energy he creates:

This wasn't just Bradley having a good game. This was Klinsmann putting the right pieces around him (true d-mid protection in Kyle Beckerman and Danny Williams; multiple runners up top and on the overlap) in a way that he didn't manage last year.
I'm still disappointed by our performance in Brazil, and always will be. But I was never on the#JurgenOut bandwagon – I always said he deserved to manage at least through the Gold Cup – because coaches, like players, can improve. They can learn. They can fix what's broken (or what they broke).
Klinsmann appears to have done something close to that. Bradley has free rein out there, and the Dutch had no way of containing him:
<iframe id="twitter-widget-3" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="" title="Twitter Tweet" height="162" style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; border-width: initial; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;"></iframe>So let's give Klinsmann credit: He's harnessing the power of his best chance creator, which doubles as his team's best chance for success.
[HR][/HR][h=2]2. Speed Kills[/h]Here's the tail end of said amazing run, including the finish by the much-maligned Bobby Wood:
<iframe id="twitter-widget-4" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="" title="Twitter Tweet" height="470" style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; border-width: initial; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;"></iframe>I haven't really enjoyed watching Wood miss empty nets over the past nine months or so, the time during which he's been a regular part of Klinsmann's team. But he's one of those forwards who is always making the attack more dangerous because he's always, always putting pressure on the defense with his speed and the timing of his runs. I don't think he'll ever be a clinical scorer, but Josh Wolff wasn't a clinical finisher back in the day either, and he sure as hell played a significant role in some great moments for the US.
Wood's game is a lot like Wolff's. He pushes off the shoulder of the last defender, and makes a ton of inside-out runs to clear space for the second line of attack. At the same time he's strong enough on the ball to make plays inside the 18.
<iframe id="twitter-widget-5" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="" title="Twitter Tweet" height="206" style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; border-width: initial; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;"></iframe>Ok fine, Leander's such a killjoy. But when Wood came on, it was 3-1 to the hosts. It finished 4-3, and I don't think it's because the guys in Oranje quit.
Wood and the rest of the subs – Mix Diskerud, DeAndre Yedlin, Jordan Morris and Danny Williams – all deserve a lot of credit. Diskerud played a little tighter to Bradley than Alfredo Morales had, while Wood, Yedlin, Morris and Williams stretched the game open with raw athleticism.
It may not work against everyone, but it worked today.
[HR][/HR][h=2]3. The Big Worry[/h]The best US defender was the woodwork, and teams that consistently give up big shot numbers consistently lose games. This is maybe more dour than it needs to be...
<iframe id="twitter-widget-6" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="" title="Twitter Tweet" height="206" style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; border-width: initial; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;"></iframe><iframe id="twitter-widget-7" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="" title="Twitter Tweet" height="206" style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: none; border-width: initial; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; display: block; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;"></iframe>But it's not wrong. Gyasi Zardes deserves a lot of credit for a great goal, and for always finding room to be dangerous, but his defensive IQ and work rate from the wing put Brek Shea under constant duress and asked a guy learning how to play left back to defend 1-v-2 for most of the first hour. Alfredo Morales was surprisingly slow in getting out to help.
Things weren't much better on the right-hand side, which included this lovely second half play when Timmy Chandler finally realized that life is an illusion and all effort is just futility screamed soundlessly into the abyss:

None of the above absolves the central defenders from blame. John Brooks is 6-foot-4, but continues to play like he's 5-foot-8. Michael Orozco got beaten near post on one of the simplest runs a forward can make.
I have more sympathy for Ventura Alvarado, who doesn't have the amount of USMNT or first-team experience that the other two guys boast. But I don't think it's a coincidence he was the guy who came off at halftime.
So as usual there there a lot of caveats and qualifiers to a US performance. But this time, there was a ton to celebrate as well. The US attack is working again, and it's fun to watch again, and a win is a win.

Scent of a Woman

CTG Moderator

Probably, but I wonder what he will do with the elgible u23 guys like Yedlin, Morris, and Brooks. Are they going play in Copa and Olympics ( assuming we qualify). I guess they could with Copa in June and Olympics in August

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A one-time switch would still be possible but America’s new star prospect stresses that he has never been in contact with England officials and feels embedded in the US setup at this point.“I definitely feel more loyalties toward America right now,” Carter-Vickers said. “Through representing the country, I am seeing how passionate the players and fans are—it really makes me feel a part of the country. [On the field], I’ve really enjoyed it. You have to travel a lot and you get to go to a lot of different places but I think it’s helped to improve my football—going away, playing different styles.“I think it always would be a tough decision but I like playing for America,” he continued. "Obviously, I would have to think long and hard about such a decision but at the moment I enjoy playing for America and I couldn’t see myself playing for England.”

Banned

Well-Known Member

I think this is where MLS needs to start taking some heat for lack of player development. Just look at the top 10 in scoring: Wondo, Will Bruin, Clint Dempsey and that's it. I mean, it could just be that there's literally nothing in the talent pool, but when just about every team has imports as their top scoring options, kind of hard to develop any homegrown talent.

Well-Known Member

it looks like he's clubless right now. I think we all kind of went hook line and sinker into the fact that this guy was playing for Bayern Munich. I think the USA has better down the pipeline. Zalalem is going to be good, I'm almost sure of it. He's already seen action for a world class team. Green basically got let go from a middling Bundesliga team

CTG Moderator

I think this is where MLS needs to start taking some heat for lack of player development. Just look at the top 10 in scoring: Wondo, Will Bruin, Clint Dempsey and that's it. I mean, it could just be that there's literally nothing in the talent pool, but when just about every team has imports as their top scoring options, kind of hard to develop any homegrown talent.